Wednesday, 3 February 2016

Madhu Pandit
Dasa, Chairman of The Akshaya Patra Foundation has been conferred upon the Padma
Shri. The prestigious award has been endowed to recognise the valuable
contribution of Akshaya Patra towards the children of India.

Madhu Pandit
Dasa, who is also the President of ISKCON Bangalore, has dedicated the award to
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada, the spiritual leader whose
inspiration led to the birth of Akshaya Patra in 2000. “Srila Prabhupada the
founder of ISKCON desired that no one should go hungry in this country. This
award is recognition of our humble service of leading this cause of nutrition
for education amongst the government school children through the Akshaya Patra
programme,” Madhu Pandit Dasa said.

Akshaya Patra,
which has partnered with the Central and State Governments of India in
delivering mid-day meals to school children, is one of the most appreciated
Public Private Partnerships India has ever seen in the field of education and
child welfare. Several case studies into the impact of Akshaya Patra Mid-Day
Meal Programme have provided solid evidence to show that it has improved school
enrolment, attendance, nutritional status of children and student
concentration.

From designing
the first centralised kitchen to distributing mid-day meals to school children
in Bangalore, Madhu Pandit Dasa has a prominent role in making what Akshaya
Patra is today. It was under his guidance that The Akshaya Patra Foundation grew from
feeding 1500 children to over 1.4 million in 2016. Today, the Mid-Day Meal
programme of Akshaya Patra is the largest NGO-run school lunch programme in the
world.

Madhu Pandit Dasa
has also been responsible for setting up a strong Governance Model in Akshaya
Patra, with transparency and accountability as one of its core values.

Madhu Pandit
Dasa, is an alumnus of IIT-Mumbai. While pursuing an M-Tech course in IIT Mumbai,
he dedicated his life to the service of humanity by becoming a full-time member
of ISKCON.